Welcome to MormonVoices. Our volunteers respond to public discussions and comments from public figures that misrepresent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We encourage and direct Mormons to get involved in online discussions and thereby help shape the public understanding and perceptions of the Church. Please join your voice with ours, and become a member of MormonVoices.

endif; ?>

MormonVoices is an independent organization that is supportive of, but not controlled by or affiliated with, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

search the site

9 January 2012

Posted on Jan 9, 2012

Group lists Top Ten Anti-Mormon Statements of 2011

January 8, 2012

Deseret News

A quote by comedian Bill Maher was the most glaring anti-Mormon statement made by a public figure during 2011, according to MormonVoices, a volunteer group dedicated to, in their words, “providing accurate information about the LDS Church.”

The Maher quote — “By any standard, Mormonism is more ridiculous than any other religion” — was just the first in a Top Ten listing prepared by the group as a way of holding “people accountable for inappropriate statements, and to help others see that certain claims about the LDS Church are incorrect,” according to Scott Gordon, a managing director of MormonVoices.

MormonVoices is affiliated with the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), an organization that tries to provide scholarly information about the doctrines, history and practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Neither FAIR nor MormonVoices is owned or controlled in any way by the LDS Church.

“Religious bigotry is unacceptable,” Gordon said in explaining why the organization compiled the list. “Statements which distort and belittle Mormon belief in order to marginalize Mormons are evidence of such bigotry.”

Religious bigotry is unacceptable. Statements which distort and belittle Mormon belief in order to marginalize Mormons are evidence of such bigotry. To combat it, MormonVoices has compiled this list of the top ten anti-Mormon statements made by public figures in 2011.

Mormons, along with many other Christian denominations, believe in deification or theosis, based on the teaching that we can become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

Little is known, though much might be speculated, about the specific details of our potential under this doctrine. Reducing it to ruling a planet caricatures a profound and complex belief. The word “planet” makes Mormons seem more like sci-fi enthusiasts than devout Christians. Other Christians, who also believe in theosis or deification, are not ridiculed in this way.

Cannon and four other Southern Oregon mothers — Kitti Chandler, Kirsten Savage, Heidi Jarvis and Lisa Anderson — have dubbed themselves the “Mysterious Mormon Moms” and banded together to produce a podcast about their religion.

The podcast debuted early last month, and aims to dismiss what Cannon believes are common misconceptions about being a Mormon, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Yes, Mormons can dance, use perfume and ice and do believe in Jesus, Cannon said.

“People wonder, are we these oppressed creatures?” Cannon said about Mormon women. “But we choose to be stay-at-home moms.”

Cannon, who holds a bachelor’s degree in business, said most Mormon women take their turn as a breadwinner at some point in their lives, yet discrimination toward her religion still is common.

Cannon held a job in the corporate world for years, and said it was hard to settle down and become a homemaker.

“We want to let people hear things from our side,” said Cannon, who hopes the podcast will show people that Mormons aren’t so different from the rest of the world.

It would be an insult to GOP hopeful Mitt Romney if his Mormon faith becomes ‘the elephant in the room’

January 8, 2012

Daily News (New York)

“Romney, a Mormon.” You so routinely see this in coverage of Mitt Romney your eyes almost start to miss it, even though it will only get worse once the rest of these losers get out of the way and it is him against Barack Obama. Apparently, no one is supposed to care that in another campaign it would have been like constantly seeing, “Lieberman, a Jew.”

The self-proclaimed God guys like Rick Santorum — you really wish God got a vote in times like this — are allowed to wear their religion like a badge, or use it like a credit card. But somehow Romney’s faith is supposed to work against him, especially with the religious nuts on the fringes of his party.

It is not only insulting to Romney, and his religion. It ought to be insulting to the rest of us, even in a political season as dumb as this one has been.

Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary looms large on the political horizon. In the midst of lively public debates over taxes, jobs, the national debt and similarly important questions related to the future vitality of our nation, a different kind of question continues to privately occupy the minds of some prospective voters: Can I vote for a Mormon?

This is an important question in our constitutional democracy. Without endorsing or even praising (much less criticizing) any candidate, I strongly encourage Americans who would ask this question of themselves to consider and weigh thoughtfully our nation’s constitutional traditions. At their best, those are traditions of welcoming religious forbearance.

But it is hard to escape the conclusion that many pro- Santorum caucus-goers in Iowa were hung up on Romney’s Mormonism. In 2008, Romney got 25 percent of the vote in Iowa, almost exactly the same as he did this time around. Mike Huckabee — or, rather, the Rev. Mike Huckabee — got just over 34 percent four years ago. If you add up Santorum’s 24.5 percent with the votes won Tuesday by evangelicals Michele Bachmann (5 percent) and Rick Perry (10 percent), you could probably account for all of Huckabee’s 2008 supporters and then some.

It is, sadly, not surprising that there is still prejudice against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The oppression of Mormons has a special place in U.S. political history. No other religion has ever found itself essentially outlawed, as Mormonism was in the 19th century when Congress made it a crime to belong to any organization that advocated plural marriage. And from a theological standpoint, many evangelical Christians refuse to recognize Mormonism even as a branch of Christianity.

In a state where dirty political tricks are as common as Palmetto trees, Romney found himself a victim in 2008. Many GOP voters got a bogus holiday greeting card, purportedly from Romney, that cited controversial passages of the Book of Mormon.

“The Mormon thing is pretty strong,” said Linda Abrams, a political scientist at Greenville’s Bob Jones University “In this day and age, I’m pretty surprised. I argue about it with my students all the time. They just can’t get past it.”

I’m talking about Mitt, the typical starched, upright and smug Mormon. Before I proceed, let me mention that I was raised Mormon, from birth until I was 18 in Salt Lake City, the seat of the Mormon church and crucible of this particular self-righteous stereotype.

Whether Mormonism is a true Christian faith or a cult is a subject for another time. My beef is with the entire concept that for one to be acceptable among the Latter Day Saints, one must be … well … perfect. Or, at least, be able to give a pretty good impression of Mormon-style perfection.

To begin with, you should be wealthy. Because, as good Mormons know, wealth is sign that you’re right with God. If you’re not well-to-do, then you belong in the back of the church, or perhaps it would be better if you worshipped at some store front.

Samberg blamed the former Pa. Senator’s recent razor-thin second-place performance in the Iowa caucus on Mitt Romney’s “enormous financial advantage and the usual Mormon trickery.” And, as the jokes roll on, he talks about getting lost in Iowa cornfields, being tricked into eating a stick of butter by local college Democrats and attending a speaking engagement with only one audience member.

Robert Parham, president of the Nashville-based Baptist Center for Ethics and a frequent critic of the Religious Right, said the Texas meeting shows evangelical leaders are worried about losing their hold on the Republican Party.

Since many evangelicals are critical of Mormons, Parham said, they won’t have much access to a Romney White House, even though Romney shares many of their values.

“This is not about core values,” he said. “This is about access to political power.”

Prior to his withdrawal from the presidential contest on February 28, 1968, George Romney ran an extraordinarily honest, thoughtful and honorable campaign. The senior Romney, a former Chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation, criticized the military industrial complex for lying to Americans about Vietnam and mocked the products of Detroit’s Big Three as “gas guzzling dinosaurs.” He was a vocal advocate of Civil Rights and anti-poverty legislation. He supported strong unions as the launching pad for America’s middle class and criticized conservative palaver about “rugged individualism,” unrestricted free markets, and wholesale corporate deregulation as “nothing but a political banner to cover up greed.” Romney, a Mormon bishop, refused to work on Sundays (with rare exception), fasted before big decisions, spurned dirty campaigning and other appeals to the dark forces of ignorance, greed, racism and division.

NOTE: This is posted for those who are interested in keeping abreast what is being said around the world about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. MormonVoices cannot and does not guarantee the validity or truthfulness of any information reported. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of this information lies with the reader. As all information comes from other news sources and has not been independently verified, MormonVoices cannot guarantee or be responsible for the security of links in the clipping service. MormonVoices will attempt as much as possible to exclude news articles containing strongly offensive language or which lead to offensive images, but cannot guarantee that some will not slip through.

Journalists

Sign up to be a volunteer

Want to be notified when your voice can help MormonVoices to make a difference? Sign up to become one of our volunteers. It's quick, easy, and you can make a difference!

MDL.org is now MormonVoices.org

Mormon Defense League is now “Mormon Voices” and our new URL is www.mormonvoices.org. You have automatically been forwarded to our new website. Our mission is the same, but our emphasis will be to help members become involved in critical conversations online.